Fail

The McGyver in me failed with the depth finder. As I suspected, the keel, rudder, propeller turbulance messed with the depth finder. No joy. I could have mounted it off the side of the boat and that would have worked...if I had a pole long enough to rig to the side stanchions and reach down to the water. The painters pole would have snapped under the strain if I extended it that far.

So on to plan B. We re-anchored outside the harbor & called the local West Marine. They have a type of depth finder that can drop in replace the existing display. But, I have heard contrary opinions if the old transducer will work with the new display. The only transducer available for the new display requires drilling a hole in the bottom of the boat. I can't work that fast! So I took a chance that the new display would work with the old transducer.

Launch the dink, run to a marina, pay $8 to tie up for an hour (everybody has their hand out around here), walk a mile to the West Marine, discuss options with the manager for a half hour, buy the depth finder, walk back to the dink, run back to the boat, temporarily hook up everything in a manner that would allow return, EUREKA, rewire everything permanently, tie up the dink, go motor around for a while to test, re-anchor, clean up, relax and wait for tomorrow to get underway. Hope we get another great sunset tonite I can actually enjoy. And pray this solution works long term.

Now if I could only figure out what is causing the tach to act up...

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom